Are we backtracking on our commitment to gender equality?
The interim government needs to quickly set an agenda that reaffirms its commitment to upholding women's rights.
3d ago
In conversation with Syeda Rizwana Hasan: ‘It’s been most challenging to reach those marooned in Feni’
Syeda Rizwana Hasan, adviser to the environment ministry, speaks with The Daily Star about the ongoing floods.
3m ago
Did we have to pay such a heavy price for this verdict?
The verdict is in. The Appellate Division through its observations has recommended that quotas be restricted to seven percent: five percent for freedom fighters’ descendants, one percent for ethnic minorities, and one percent for people with disabilities.
4m ago
Geof Wood: 'I feel my identity is tied up with Bengal'
Geof Wood talks to Sushmita S Preetha of The Daily Star about his latest book, in which he explores the dilemmas of being an academic immersed in the processes of development and the intersection between policymaking and activism.
9m ago
The violence of silencing a rape survivor
That justice for rape survivors is a mirage in this country is no news, with a miserable conviction rate of three percent in rape cases.
9m ago
‘Human rights obligations are not an imposition from the outside’
UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Opinion and Expression Irene Khan speaks with The Daily Star about the recent general election, shrinking space for dissent, and the pressing need to address human rights concerns in Bangladesh.
10m ago
The price we pay with each deleted word
With each new term of the ruling regime, and each new provision or law, we have learnt a bit more of self-censorship.
10m ago
September 18, 2017
Ethical challenges of documenting Birangonas
There is a need for a descriptive narrative as opposed to a simplistic narrative. The Fhuljaan story is a clear example. Also the issue of anonymity vs confidentiality—do we anonymise these accounts or keep it confidential or publicise these names? I went for anonymising, but many of these women said, "these are my words, why isn’t my name there?"
May 5, 2017
The myth of the 8-hour work day
Banu Begum, a 38-year-old garment worker, leaves home at 7.30 in the morning, drops off her two daughters at a nearby madrasa and then walks to her factory a few kilometres away.
April 21, 2017
Mental Health - Living with the ghost of Rana Plaza
People tell her she is lucky to be alive, to have escaped the “clutches of death”. They tell her to “count her blessings” for making it out of the rubble that was once Rana Plaza, with her limbs intact. They remind her of all those who didn't share her fate.
March 24, 2017
THE MESSENGER
1971, for families torn apart or displaced by the war, was a time of profound uncertainty, of not knowing where or how their loved ones were, of waiting for news – any news – good or bad.
August 4, 2016
The devil in development
The word “development” - eliciting as it does grandiloquent notions of progress - has become, at least in Bangladesh, something of a red herring.
June 7, 2016
“Is the Forest Department to be a landlord without any responsibilities?”
Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association's (BELA) chief executive Syeda Rizwana Hasan talks to Sushmita S Preetha of The Daily
June 2, 2016
If our democracy could talk, what would it say?
When people resist what the government would like to wholesale, impose, or force-feed as “development”, democracy seems quite at ease to quell people's resistances, violate pledges and dismiss the age-old demands of the adivasi communities.
May 3, 2016
Who says we're not free?
Last week, Freedom House, an independent watchdog organisation that conducts research and advocacy on democracy, political freedom...
April 20, 2016
When only men make the news
On the onset, it seems women are everywhere in the media. You switch on the TV, there is inevitably an attractive woman luring you
April 11, 2016
A lesson on lessons not learnt
Eleven years ago, on a hot, stuffy day not unlike today, a building had come crashing down on the sweating workers of a sweater factory.
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